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5 (11) 4 (36) 3 (32) 2 (16) 1 (218) 1.8 starsAverage score of 175 user reviews
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dmstarz's favourite marvel comic cover no231 0
There are perhaps two very significant sides to Nightcrawler, neither of which probably get enough attention. Firstly, his devout Christian faith and secondly, how enamoured he is with old style Hollywood adventure. Fairly recently, his love of buccaneering came to the fore in Uncanny X-Men whilst, way back in the above issue, artists June Brigman and Terry Austion created this cute action cover that is both romantic and nostalgic. Alas the story wasn't much cop but that doesn't belittle a busy ...
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dmstarz's favourite marvel comic cover no232 0
The set up for Ghost Rider is excellent, isn't it? Becoming a monster due to a deal with the devil. This allowed the comic to be considerably more macabre with its visuals than some of the other regular books. A few issues before the above, we have the Spirit of Vengence threatening Blaze with a trip to Hell and the above, whilst not as gruesome or grotesque as many of the other covers, is still pretty unsettling. The artists, two Bobs, Wiacek and Budiansky, fearlessly pepper the cover with the ...
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dmstarz's favourite marvel comic cover no234 0
Quite a tragic little cover, in a way. Despite the seemingly idyllic homelife conveyed very cutely by John Romita Jr, we know full well that Bruce and Betty Banner could never have this kind of homelife. The ghoul in the background confirms this, though I think the cover may have been stronger without this figure - we know it's all wrong, anyway. This is the Hulk, for goodness' sake. Love the dog with the paper in its mouth. Ah, it's so sad, so sad. I have ranked this cover no 234 as part of a l...
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dmstarz's favourite marvel comic cover no236 0
Spidey reveals used to be a big deal back in the day - hardly anyone knew who he was for ages. Of course, that changed big time recently. The twist in this tale was that of course Felicia Hardy wasn't that interested in who Spidey really was - she liked the guy in the mask much more (which kind of ties in with what Kevin Smith did with the character). Felicia's uncertainty is very apparent here in a cover by Al Milgrom. Not the greatest execution, granted, but still effective and a key moment. I...
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dmstarz's favourite marvel comic book cover no237 0
Early cover by Art Adams and isn't it thoroughly creepy? Not so much the Daredevil shadow in the background, a common enough comic book trick, but the visualisation of Rotgut himself. I don't know a lot about Rotgut - I think this was his only appearance. However, Adams effectively tells us all we need - he's a stick thin weasel with bloody hands, the body and trail of blood behind him. He's nasty and horrible. The unnatural purple sky behind also adds to the sense of unease.I have ranked this c...
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dmstarz's favourite marvel comic cover no238 0
A cracking idea from Bendis and Maleev - a take on not only the Ten Commandments, commenting of course on Murdock's tenuous Catholic faith, but also namechecking Kieslowski's masterful 1988 TV work 'The Decalogue'. Stylistically, all five covers of the series (which should have been ten, surely, to make sense, but never mind) detoured from the usual DD artwork and were all quite similar. But I think the first one's the best because, one, purely because it is first, two, the Daredevil blood red i...
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dmstarz's favourite marvel comic cover no239 0
In the early 70s Marvel introduced, I think pretty much across the board, borders to their covers like the one above. In my opinion, these immediately lessened the impact of the images that were being displayed (they also got rid temporarily of the rectangular boxes so associated with Marvel up until the late 90s and replaced them, though not here, with images protruding from circles). One of the few covers which stands out is the one above, created by, who else, John Romita. The unlikeliness of...
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dmstarz' favourite marvel comic covers no240 0
So Frank Miller has just turned the whole idea of superheroes on its head after a terrific run of 30 odd issues and then he ups and leaves. So what are you left with? Well, Klaus Janson, for a start. Poor old Klaus' contribution to DD is often a footnote in the wake of Miller's astonishing work. But I love his artwork. It's very simple, in many ways, almost naive, but still kind of beautiful. Here, it's as if the creative team are trying to continue on from Miller's run, showing Daredevil as a k...
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dmstarz's favourite marvel comic cover no241 0
A cover I recall very well from my childhood. It was one of those that seemed to leap out from the shelves begging to be bought. At the time, I thought the image extremely dramatic and edgy. I don't think I knew too much about Ghost Rider at the time and I felt for the poor guy, Johnny Blaze, who seemed to be heading to Hell. One word, 'Nightmare!' added to the drama. Completely compelling.I have ranked this cover no 241 as part of a long term project I am producing on my own blog 'marvel-ous' o...
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dmstarz's favourite marvel comic covers 242 0
There are plenty of images of Wolverine looking practically psychotic, claws right in your face. Alternatively he's looking mean, moody, a loner, in a stetson or vest. Sean Chen opts for none of this in this cover portraying Logan as desperate, whilst still retaining the distinctiveness of the claws, albeit in a more unusual and striking angle than is often the case. Ultimately, it makes for a successful, stand out image.I have ranked this cover no 242 as part of a long term project I am produci...
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The Twelve #1 0
This was a very pleasant surprise. Not to say that I wasn't looking forward to it - I was. But I'm not always a fan of JMS's writing. However, having really liked his Bullet Points series, I was optomistic about this book. And it didn't disappoint. A twelve part storyline about a group of heroes from the past feeling out of place in the present was always inevitably going to lead to comparisons with Watchmen. It would be unfortunate, though, if that held readers back from picking this up. It's v...
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dmstarz's favourite marvel comic cover no244 0
This is all about Havok and how he has been represented on this cover in a very distinctive fashion. The technique used here by the artist, Neal Adams (I think), seems, to me, to be one that was quite unusual in comics back then (maybe influenced by pop art? Roy Lichenstein?) and although it seems quite archaic in 2008, the result is still a highly effective one. Must have been a bummer for the readers though to find out his costume was black, not orange. I have ranked this cover no 244 as part...
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dmstarz's favourite marvel comic cover no247 0
I must confess to adoring Power Man/Iron Fist in the mid 80s. The scripting was excellent, tongue in cheek when all else in the Marvel Universe seemed deadly serious. A lot of this was due to the 'odd couple' contrast between the main characters and the cover above emphasises this marvellously. Danny is reaching zen consciousness to stay warm whilst leaving Luke to try to cope with the cold in his own way (ie not very well). And all drawn by the marvellous John Byrne who keeps the image muted an...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
dmstarz's favourite marvel comic cover no249 0
This is a pretty distinctive image by Brandon Peterson - a completely unshowy but still somewhat intriguing cover. Fantastic use of colour, the contrasts of ice blue sky, red coat and green fields, gives a sense of coldness and mystery. One of its key assets is that the figure (who we presume is the good doctor, but can't be certain) has his back to us so his identity remains unknown. All in all, quite a lot going on and the picture really stands out thanks to an original approach. Incidentally ...
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dmstarz's favourite marvel comic cover No180 1
Rogue's introduction to the X-Men is one of my all time favourite story lines. Of course, up to the point she joined, she was one of the bad guys and, even though everyone's doing it these days, back in the early 80s it was rare to see a villian turn good guy. So Walt Simonson does a great job demonstrating the disparity of the situation with Rogue running petrified from her disgusted soon to be team-mates. She looks terrified, doesn't she? This is just one of many X-Men covers to be later homag...
0 out of 1 found this review helpful.
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